[net.taxes] payment under duress

honey (04/04/83)

From: allegra!honey
To: cca!dee net.politics net.taxes
Date: Sun Apr  3 19:50:21 1983 EST

Payment of taxes is under duress, eh?  Hmmm, let's just open the old
Black's Legal Dictionary (4th Deluxe Edition) and look it up ... chosen
... dominion ...  edicts ... dummy ... duress -- there we go!

	DURESS, n.  Unlawful constraint exercised upon a man whereby he
	is forced to do some act that he otherwise would not have done
	...  [here going on at boring length to describe types of
	force, citing obscure cases by the armload].  Duress consists
	in [sic] any illegal imprisonment, or legal imprisonment used
	for an illegal purpose, or threats of bodily or other harm, or
	other means amounting to or tending to coerce the will of
	another, and actually inducing ... [blah blah, followed by
	etc.] ... and it is never "duress" to threaten to do that which
	a party has a legal right to do ... [ditto]  such as
	instituting or threatening to institute civil actions.

Let me know what you decide.
	Peter Honeyman

soreff (04/04/83)

In response to Peter Honeyman's note on the definition of duress as an
*illegal* use of force:  If a taxpayer residing in a nation which is
(ooops, restart)
If a taxpayer resides in a nation which is starting an agressive war,
then that nation is in violation of international law, so such sactions
(omit last word)
actions as the nation takes to pursue its military adventure are probably
illegal, including whatever coercion it applies to force taxpayers to
finance it military.  Thus, from the point of view of international law,
the taxpayer may well be acting under duress.
		-Jeffrey Soreff (hplabs!phlabsb!soreff)